Is Medvedev's Forehand for Real?

[jimlosaltos]

When I first saw this forehand swing from Medvedev, I thought it came from him being a great improv artist.

He was out of position, didn't create any distance on his forehand with the ball at his toes, so he swung straight up, creating a ridiculous reverse forehand, nearly hitting himself in the face.

Now, it seems to be becoming a regular part of his arsenal (and he already has more clubs in his bag than the course allows).
It's sort of an inside-out reverse forehand, off his toes.

Is this forehand just a silly eccentricity, or is Medvedev a Mad Genius at Work?

P.S. The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

filedata/fetch?id=95210&d=1630695169&type=thumb
Source: UNK ? Perhaps USO.

[stroke]

He is never to me going to be studied quantitatively by BG. He is about and uneasy on the eye as Fed is easy on the eye, but as we all know, it is not a beauty contest. Medvedev is good to go obviously.

[doctorhl]

Any thoughts on frame stiffness, swing weight, string tension, etc. to get the ball to pocket a swing plane like that?

[jimlosaltos]

I have no idea if these guys know what they're talking about but this site claims to know. If correct, then Medvedev, Djokovic (his actual racket, not the paint job), and Fed 2.0 all have similar rackets 18x19, 97-98, 360g. Novak and Fed hybrid stringing, gut mains, Daniil all co-poly.


A Tecnifibre man through and through, Medvedev uses the Tecnifibre T Fight XTC 305 racket which is around 355-360g strung. Like many of the pros, his use of lead tape and silicone hasn’t been made clear, but the balance of the racket falls into the 32cm range.

String: Tecnifibre’s Ice Code. Standard tension 50 lbs, altered with temp etc.

Racket: Tecnifibre XTC 305

Weight (Strung): 355-360g

Balance: 32cm

Head Size: 98 sq. inch

String Pattern: 18?19

Lead Tape and Silicone: Unknown

https://thetennisbros.com/tennis-tips/danlil-medvedev-racket-and-string/

[doctorhl]

Thanks for the specs Jim!

[stotty]

It's an odd stroke. His whole game is a bit odd. He's baseline game, visually, is in stark contrast to Novak's, whose strokes are neat and technically clean and perfect. Yet Medvedev's ugly game stand's up to Novak's or anyone else's for that matter. On paper it shouldn't...yet it does. He has fantastic ball control in my view.

[don_budge]

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/brain-game-medvedev-winning-tactics-v-djokovic-us-open-2021

[jimlosaltos]

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/brai...c-us-open-2021

Amusingly, Craig predicted before hand that Medvedev would have to take the net away from Djokovic because nobody can hang with Djokovic from the baseline.

Medvedev had exactly ZERO ( 0 ), Nada, Rien, Pas de Tous, volley winners -- just won the match